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I am perplexed as to why Zoisite chose y'all as an example of Canadianity.
Y'all was introduced to North America with the early Scottish, Irish and Northumberland (a county in north east England) immigrants who settled in the maritimes. It spread west across Canada to the west coast as well as down to the south from the maritimes.
I didn't choose any of my contributions as examples of Canadianisms. The OP didn't ask for Canadianisms, he asked "So, Canadian Guys, what's left from Britain?" and that's what I gave him, they are all from Britain.
Edited to add for the OP:
Biezer, you posted elsewhere today that you are a 30 something y.o. German who lives in Germany and you said you have visited USA several times. But I don't think you can have visited much of Canada at all and certainly not for long if you came to the conclusion you did about the very limited types of foods that you think Canadians choose to eat. That made me laugh when I saw that. Come back and visit Canada more extensively some time and truly familiarize yourself with us. Canada is a really big place with a lot of cultures and cuisines from many countries that are enjoyed by all Canadians.
BTW what’s up with all the Canada-bashing, America-praising threads lately??
Lately? No no, it's a very common thing - the Canada forum is full of threads with that kind of bashing stuff, it's been an ongoing thing for at least as long as I've been a forum member, maybe longer for all I know. And as to what's up with it - that's their style of self-aggrandizing propaganda and I think they do it because of their own personal ignorance, resentment, fear and insecurity about Canada. Trying to make Canada look bad makes them feel better about themselves.
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When I was in Canada, I just recognized that Canadian Cities completely look like US Cities. They just eat burgers, fries, and for breakfast: hushbrown potatoes, biscuits, pancakes with syrup, drive automatic. So, Canadian Guys, what's left from Britain? You still have the Queen of England. What does she say about that?
America is a very large and influencial neighbor and their brands and products naturally flow accross the border to Canada,have you never eaten in an American fast food restaurant or driven an American car or stayed at a Holiday Inn Express? Being Canadians doesnt mean we have to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world,if you are our neighbor and have a good product we will use it.
As for the Queen? when you were in Canada what role did she play in your visit?
Also Quebec for the most part looks just like USA with all the trappings America has to offer.
Y'all was introduced to North America with the early Scottish, Irish and Northumberland (a county in north east England) immigrants who settled in the maritimes. It spread west across Canada to the west coast as well as down to the south from the maritimes.
I didn't choose any of my contributions as examples of Canadianisms. The OP didn't ask for Canadianisms, he asked "So, Canadian Guys, what's left from Britain?" and that's what I gave him, they are all from Britain.
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Still an odd choice when the whole world associates it with the US South. And Canadians do not really say it.
Well, as an American, I can tell you that Canadian cities may look like American cities, but they don't feel like American cities. (And as others have said, there is a lot more to Canada than just the big cities - which are, by nature, going to be more cosmopolitan/international feeling).
Canada is culturally different than America in a lot of ways. Not that it's bad or good - it's just different. I love visiting Canada, but I also love going home!
As for what's more English......poppies on veteran's day, Easter Monday, Boxing Day. Canadians also tend to be a lot funnier than Americans and in large part that's because have more of a British sense of humor. Oh......and there's "zed". Took me awhile to figure out what "zed" was because I was just confused. (Yep - call me clueless, because that's what I was for awhile! I totally own that!) And Canadians tend to use more British spelling norms than Americans. And a lower drinking age. A lot of this stuff is really more subtle than "in your face". I'm sure there's a lot that I'm missing as well.
I live on the border with Canada and there's a lot of mixing between our countries/border cities (Windsor/Detroit). One of the big events every year is the International Freedom Fest celebrating both Canada Day/the Fourth of July. It's a real fun time. We celebrate our unique heritages together - as two freedom loving countries.
Oh - and another way that Canada is more British is that it's much more international focused than the US. For all the talk of the US being "the world's policeman" - we can be quite insular at times.
Again - some of this stuff isn't "in your face" obvious, but Canada has a deeper cultural connection to England than the US does.
A lot of it is due to the fact that confederation wasn't a violent affair whereas we Americans decided to start a war to gain our independence from England. And as someone else brought up - a lot of Loyalists ended up settling in Canada to escape the War here in the States. And Canada doesn't have the same kind of history with slavery as America. Canada was a popular place for slaves to escape so they'd be completely out of America (and far away from that BS). England ended slavery before we did here in America. So - it's really some of these deeper cultural trends that point to the Canadian relationship with England, not rows of shops filled with Tea and Biscuits and Kidney Pie and Chelsea Buns (Yeah....too much of the Great British Bake Off for me! I own that too!)
Anglo Canada was founded by the losers of the American revolution called the loyalists.
They betrayed the other Americans by supporting Britain's empire and even still they ended up losing.
They had little other choice than to settle to the north in Canada where they formed a rival, significantly less-successful version of Anglo America.
Ironically this Canada came to depend on the Americans for everything from economic basics to the latest trends.
This is why anglo Canada appear to copy America, it's because they do so jealously, and also accounts for anglo Canada's renowned inferiority complex.
Anglo Canada is the less successful relative who made a few questionable choices, and now they are forced to inhabit the barely habitable northern backwaters on the border of the once rival turned success-story.
For example, Canada has blatantly copied several American holidays. Thanksgiving, Independence Day (Canada Day), Memorial Day (Remembrance Day), and on goes the list.
All your holidays are wrong.
Canadian Thanksgiving is the same as US Columbus Day, not Thanksgiving. Independence day, obviously different. Memorial Day is in May, not November. But I highly anticipate the rest of your list. You're at 0.00 so far.
Don't get me wrong. I don"t want to be Canada-bashing. It just seems to me, as a European, as if Canada is a clone of the US. I like the term "modest" in the meaning of living a modest life instead of a swanky one. But even in my home country, most people want to boastfully have the biggest car they can get.
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